New Year - New Opportunities.

It was fantastic to see many of our Consult Yorkshire colleagues in attendance for our first official meeting of 2021.

The opportunity to meet remotely was warmly welcomed, especially during a month where Yorkshire has seen some very ‘interesting’ weather and travel conditions.

Following on from our regular informal networking and introductions, we moved on to the Skills Share section of the meeting.

This month we welcomed our guest speaker Katie Wytwyckyj - a Business Engagement Officer from the PAPI Project based at the University of York.

The PAPI project is a Product and Process Innovation program that provides funding to support innovation and business growth (ERDF) to eligible SMEs.

PAPI assists SMEs that are based in North & West Yorkshire and are looking to innovate through the development of a new product or service.

During her presentation, Katie covered the following key areas:

• Geographic areas served by the project.

• Key sectors supported.

• Size of grant funding available.

• The provision of fully funded Innovation workshops.

• The grant application process.

• Case studies of previously successful applicants.

The presentation was well received by members of Consult Yorkshire, many of whom are based or have clients that are based within the program catchment area.

Aside from our guest speaker, we had a couple of existing members who discussed new projects that they are developing. It’s always inspiring to see fellow consultants and freelancers proactively making positive steps into new ventures.

Perhaps the key takeaway from our January meeting should be:

Even though the whole world is currently experiencing a major global challenge, a regional network of likeminded professionals can still provide the support & feedback to help you onto the next stage of your professional development.

If you are a Yorkshire based Freelancer or Independent Consultant and are looking to connect with friendly and forward thinking like minded professionals, then please do get in touch with our team.

Alternatively, if you would like to find out more information about the PAPI Project, please use the following contact details:

Tel: 01904 328076
Email: papi-project@york.ac.uk

Bank of England Seminar

On 7th June Consult Yorkshire hosted a fantastic seminar on behalf of the Bank of England. An audience of around 30 SMEs from the Yorkshire area gathered to hear Juliette Healey, the Bank’s Regional Representative for Yorkshire, talk about what was happening in the economy.

Juliette Healey presenting the Bank's outlook

Normally numbers, facts and graphs would be a guaranteed way to put an audience to sleep, but in this case it was the exact opposite. The information presented was utterly fascinating and totally relevant to the issues of smaller businesses, and Julliette’s clear and detailed delivery maintained the audience’s rapt attention.

A survey of those attending confirms this - 100% of those attending found the event informative, and 100% found the networking before the event useful. If anything the feeling was that it would have been even better with more time for Q&A. Attendees would clearly like to come to a similar event in the future, with a particular emphasis on information about the Northern Powerhouse, specifics on the Yorkshire & Humberside economy, and sustainability.

Questions from the audience

The event was kindly hosted by St Philips Chambers of 41 Park Square, Leeds, who provided an outstanding venue in the centre of Leeds and a tasty breakfast for everyone who had had to set off early to get there

Leeds Business Week is back! And so are we!

“Leeds Business week is all about bringing people together across the city and beyond to share best practice, gather together to build better business relationships and benefit from each other’s expertise. We have a strong partnership with Leeds City council and we will be working closely together to develop Leeds Business Week 2015.”
Chairman of Yorkshire Mafia, Geoff Shepherd

As part of this year’s Leeds Business Week programme, Consult Yorkshire is running an advice surgery with a handful of presentations aimed at small business owners and independent consultants/advisors – FOC for 1 day only.

“How to make your business exceptional”
Wednesday 14 October 2015 8.30am – 12.30pm
at Solutions West Yorkshire, 14 King Street,  Leeds, LS1 2HL

If you are seeking support, guidance or simply advice, no matter what your market or experience, our high calibre, Yorkshire-based, independent consultants, managers and interims will be able to help. With 100s of years of experience in just about every market sector and discipline, we enjoy helping everyone from a one-man start-up through to multi-million pound enterprises to maximise their potential.

The 8.30-11.30am session will combine specialist presentations jam-packed with practical tips aimed at small business owners and advisors with 1-2-1 surgeries such as interim management, marketing, PR and social media, training & development and IT/telecoms.

The business surgery will be followed by a Consult Yorkshire networking lunch 11.45am-12.30pm aimed at independent consultants interested in joining our growing network to benefit from collaboration and connection with some of Yorkshire’s finest professionals!

We do hope you can join us.